Supporters Rally, Seek Answers in Bike Messenger Hit-and-Run

North Side businesses, residents and police are banding together to search for answers in a Wicker Park bicycle accident that has left an uninsured Lake View man fighting for his life. 

DePaul University student Dustin Valenta, 27, was critically injured while riding his bike around 11:40 a.m. Feb. 8 in the 1400 block of North Milwaukee Avenue. There, police say a light-colored pickup truck with an attached cab hit him. Details on the incident—initially believed to be a car "dooring"—have been hazy, as reports indicate Valenta doesn't fully recall what happened. 

"I have a recollection of being on the ground, breathing, and realizing this wasn't just like normal knocked wind, that it was something pretty painful,"Valenta told Fox News. " … "I just remember them saying that another bystander said I had been run over by a truck that had hit and run."

Valenta's attorney, Michael Keating, reportedly filed a lawsuit to get a nearby bank's surveillance footage of the crash, which clearly shows Valenta being run over by a white truck after he was doored.

He remained at Northwestern Memorial Hospital Sunday, where he was being treated for a skull fracture and breaking 23 of his 24 ribs, his pelvis and shoulder blade, according to one of several fundraising efforts now being coordinated on his behalf. 

Another endeavor is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 25 at Bangers & Lace, 1670 W. Division St., where the bar will open its doors at 2 p.m. All proceeds generated before 1 a.m. Tuesday will be used to help pay Valenta's medical bills, the event information says.

During the past two weeks, $6,676 has also been raised—$10,000 is listed as the goal—by way of a fundraiser coordinated by Cut Cats Courier, the company for which Valenta is a bike messenger. Yet another effort, listed on Give Forward, had generated more than $12,000 as of Sunday evening.

"The doctors have been saying if he hadn't been in such good shape, he wouldn't have made it," says the GoFundMe page. "They also said that the helmet he was wearing saved his life."

Aside from his cycling, Valenta is a yoga instructor and actor, sources say. He is also a vegan. His mother flew in to Chicago from California when she learned of the crash, while his father drove 14 hours from Vermont.

"We appreciate any and all help that you may offer," Drew Priest-Grochowski writes on one of the fundraising pages. "Every cent counts to help Dustin and his family pay for these expensive bills."

The Chicago Police Department recently issued an alert regarding the crash, asking that anyone with information contact the department's Major Accident Investigation Unit at 312-745-4521.